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It's been a long time coming now, but it's time for Twenty Percent Cooler to close down. We've had a good run and had a great time in our heyday, but the sun has set on our little website and now it's time to go. You have about a week to record, save, and archive what you would like before everything goes dark, so please make the best of this time.

Thank you for all the memories and contributions to our community in these last 8 years. We had a great time.

The Seven Deadly Ponies

So I was lying in bed last night when the thought popped into my head: what if I interpreted each of the Mane Six ponies as one of the Seven Deadly Sins? Never mind that there are only six of them. Demented as this idea sounded, I decided to go with it, and this is the result.

Note: This is not intended to be a serious argument in any way. I love all the ponies and am not trying to bash them. I simply enjoy arguing nonsense.

Okay! I am now going to demonstrate that those candy-colored ponies we all love, the ones made of sunshine and gumdrops and the laughter of innocent babies, are in fact, the embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins.

First off is, of course, Twilight Sparkle

Twilight seems to be a very innocuous pony, with no particular flaws aside from an unwarranted humility, underconfidence, and general "adorkability." However, let's take a closer look at what she does when she's not busy saving all of Equestria, or at least her friends.

She reads. And reads. And practices magic. And reads about magic. She desires magical knowledge and power, to such an extent that she practices her new spells (25 and counting!) on her hapless assistant, Spike. She cheats at the Winter Wrap Up by using her new "come to life" spell. Her entire purpose of dwelling in Ponyville is to study (sponsored by her mentor, Celestia) the magic of friendship. And make no mistake: this is no mere play on words. Friendship is a very tangible and potent force in Equestria, sufficient to redeem a fallen goddess and trap an avatar of chaos in eternal stone.

With this in mind, it becomes obvious that Twilight's sin is Lust. Not lust in the sexual sense, but rather its third meaning*: "a passionate or overmastering desire or craving." This fits Twilight's obsession with magic to a T.

Next we have Applejack

Applejack is honest, loyal, brave and true all admirable traits. She also exhibits a stubborn streak and an occasional tendency towards the mercenary. However, her primary sin becomes most obvious in episode 4, "Applebuck Season." Despite the fate of the family farm - not just Applejack herself, but also the injured Big Macintosh, the elderly Granny Smith, and the adolescent Applebloom - resting in her hooves, Applejack steadfastly refuses to ask for help in harvesting the countless acres of apples she has to deal with. She even actively rejects offers of assistance, preferring to risk poverty and the wholesale loss of her crops. Her Pride is so great that her family's welfare is negligible.

Even her vaunted honesty can be seen as an aspect of Applejack's overweening pride. It allows her to point out the flaws and failings of others (thus boosting her own ego), and when she points out her own failings, this can be seen almost as exhibitionism - rather than let such things pass, she insists on wallowing in them, as if to remind everypony of her superior ethics.

Rainbow Dash

You'd probably expect Dash's sin to be pride, and a case could certainly be made for that. However, consider that all her aerobatics, all her hair-raising stunts and life-endangering tricks, are made for a single purpose: the purpose of impressing her idols, the Wonderbolts. From the first time we meet Rainbow Dash up to the Grand Galloping Gala itself, she remains fixated on becoming a member of this prestigious team.

Interestingly, what happens when, in episode 16, "Sonic Rainboom," Dash actually gets a chance to perform in front of and potentially meet the ponies she so admires? She becomes nearly catatonic with stage fright. This is a sharp contrast to the usually overconfident and boisterous Dash.

Rainbow Dash's sin is Envy. She wishes to be a Wonderbolt because she wants what they have: fame, admiration, awe. Her constant showboating merely reinforces this theory; in virtually every scene where Dash plays a major part, she is practically jumping up and down and shouting "Look at me! Look how awesome I am!" Significantly, she freezes up when the objects of her obsession are withing hoof's reach, because she doesn't really believe she's worthy. This, of course, only makes her more miserable and envious in the long run.

Fashonista, glamour pony, and object of Spike's adoration - Rarity is all of these things. But despite her purported role as the spirit of Generosity, Rarity demonstrates some odd tendencies. First, witness the fact that most - if not all - of the clothing she sells features gemstones and materials like gold silk - hardly appropriate for most of the hard-working ponies of Ponyville. Simple law of supply and demand require that Rarity charge a corresponding price for these fabulous garments, or else she would soon be homeless.

Consider also episode 19, "A Dog and Pony Show," wherein Rarity callously employs the love-struck Spike to do the hard manual labor of digging up enormous piles of precious gemstones for her, rewarding him not with half the profits, but with a mere handful of the stones. Later, after utterly dominating the Diamond Dogs through strategic whining, Rarity forces them to dig gems for her as well. When her friends burst in in an effort to save her - risking life and limb as far as they know - is rarity grateful? Far from it; she immediately enlists them to haul a number of enormous cartloads of gems away from the traumatized Diamond Dogs. She offers nary a word of thanks - not even for the hapless Spike, who has sacrificed his prized possession (a jewel she gave him) to track her down. Rarity's attention is entirely focused on her ill-gotten gains.

Rarity's sin, obviously, is Avarice.

Next is Pinkie Pie

This one's fairly simple. Pinkie Pie lives in a bakery. Her favorite things in the world seem to be cupcakes and similar sweets. Every scene involving Pinkie Pie and some manner of baked goods ends with her eating them - even when said pastries are explicitly intended for the visiting ruler/deity of Equestria, or have been charred until the resemble charcoal briquettes. Even in the face of Discord, avatar of chaos - even when her friends are attempting to stop the menace that has virtually destroyed Ponyville - Pinkie stops to consume the chocolate rain.

Furthermore, Pinkie's second major interest is partying - a chance to be wild, uninhibited, and act without much concern for either consequences or other ponies. She throws parties at the drop of a hat, and even attempts to transform the Grand Galloping Gala into an orgy of self-indulgence.

Pinkie Pie's sin is Gluttony.

Fluttershy

Fluttershy. Shy, quiet, meek little Fluttershy. Everypony loves her. She is made of sunshine and warm hugs and summer afternoons. She has no flaws, except lack of confidence and a little cowardice.

Oh, and the murderous, psychotic rage.

Fluttershy is repressed - incredibly repressed - and it's probably a good thing for everyone else that this is so. We get strong hints of this in her overwhelming shyness and near-neurotic need to avoid confrontation (see Fluttershy vs. the pegasus bullies in episode 16, "Sonic Rainboom"), not to mention her near groveling to Angel, her abusive "pet". There's also the fact that even when she tries to vent - screaming or kicking a vase - the result is minimal and ineffective.

The true Fluttershy peeks through a few times, though. In episode 7, "Dragonshy," we see a near-catatonic Fluttershy face down a full-grown dragon with a mixture of fury and force of personality. In episode 17, "Stare Master," we learn that Fluttershy can cow chickens - notoriously dim-witted and panicky - into regimented obedience merely with a glare. This later proves effective against a cockatrice, when Fluttershy literally rages her way out of being petrified. Finally, in episode 26, "Best Night Ever," the mask finally shatters and we get a clear view of the persona known variously as Flutterrage or Psychoshy.

Fluttershy is a boiling cauldron of primeval fury, and her meek persona is merely a mask designed to keep other ponies from shunning her or driving her away as a threat to life and limb. Clearly, her sin is Wrath.

This concludes the Mane Six, but we have one sin left. Who can we find to best embody it? Lyra? Octavia? Perhaps one of the Princesses?

We see this early when, in episode 2, "Elements of Harmony," Twilight tucks Spike into bed before continuing her studies to save Equestria. Later, in episode 11 "Winter Wrap Up," Spike repeatedly tries to get away from the community-wide labor involved in preparing for Spring so he can sleep late. And what of episodes like "Look Before You Sleep," "Sonic Rainboom," or "The Cutie Mark Chronicles," where Spike is nowhere to be found? The most likely answer is that he is asleep somewhere.

Final proof that Spike's sin is Sloth can be found in episode 26, "Best Night Ever." Here we find that, despite waiting what seemed like an entire year for the Grand Galloping Gala, Spike can only keep himself awake by slamming down donut after sugary donut down and Pony Joe's.

That's very interesting, actually. One could interpret them differently, but that's because we have interesting, multidimensional characters, while the sins are absolutist - meaning we could find elements of each in just about everybody. Although Rarity as Avarice is pretty much a shoe-in.

You know what else is interesting? Crossing your list with the seven heavenly virtues of Aurelius Prudentius' Psychomachia. They were chosen specifically to counter the seven deadly sins, and two of them amuse me greatly. Diligence, counter to sloth, and charity, counter to avarice. Rather than charity, one could say... generosity? Of course, that's always been the kind of sideways appeal of Rarity's character all along. And didn't you say Spike was diligent as well as lazy? :)

I was amused to find that kindness is also a virtue, but alas, it counters envy, not wrath (that one's patience). And did you know honesty isn't a virtue? Go figure.

Note: This is not intended to be a serious argument in any way. I love all the ponies and am not trying to bash them. I simply enjoy arguing nonsense.

Okay! I am now going to demonstrate that those candy-colored ponies we all love, the ones made of sunshine and gumdrops and the laughter of innocent babies, are in fact, the embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Hey, that's a okay. I see alot of myself in Twilight, that's why I chose her to be my avatar. :)

Twilight seems to be a very innocuous pony, with no particular flaws aside from an unwarranted humility, underconfidence, and general "adorkability." However, let's take a closer look at what she does when she's not busy saving all of Equestria, or at least her friends.

She reads. And reads. And practices magic. And reads about magic. She desires magical knowledge and power, to such an extent that she practices her new spells (25 and counting!) on her hapless assistant, Spike. She cheats at the Winter Wrap Up by using her new "come to life" spell. Her entire purpose of dwelling in Ponyville is to study (sponsored by her mentor, Celestia) the magic of friendship. And make no mistake: this is no mere play on words. Friendship is a very tangible and potent force in Equestria, sufficient to redeem a fallen goddess and trap an avatar of chaos in eternal stone.

With this in mind, it becomes obvious that Twilight's sin is Lust. Not lust in the sexual sense, but rather its third meaning*: "a passionate or overmastering desire or craving." This fits Twilight's obsession with magic to a T.

I agree with most of these but I think three of them could be switched around. The way I see it, Spike would have to be greed. After all, what's the one defining trait of the entire dragon race? They’re greedy bastards. While it's true that Spike has been integrated into pony society and raised with an equestrian set of morals and values, he's still a dragon none the less. Greed is in his blood and he has to struggle against it every now and then as seen in "Secret of My Excess" and "Just for Sidekicks".

If greed is taken, then Rarity has to represent something else. Honestly, I don't think it makes sense to associate greed with the Element of Generosity to begin with. It would make more sense for her to be envy. Think about it, she lives in the small, backwater town of Ponyville yet she's constantly fawning over the ponies of Canterlot. She longs for the high society life despite the surroundings she grew up in. She views the citizens of Canterlot as being somehow better then herself despite being snobbish, empty shells of what ponies should be. This is envy incarnate. Also, there are three Rarity episodes centered on greed while none of the other characters have any. Namely, "Green Isn't Your Color", Sweet and Elite, and "Simple Ways".

If Spike is greed and Rarity is envy, who's sloth? That would be none other than Rainbow Dash. Granted, she wants to be a Wonderbolt and seems to have a constant need to move, both of which are active and ambitious things. However, when you consider how she behaves on a daily basis, she's very rarely seen actually doing work. Take her job for example, Ponyville's weather manager. We found out in the pilot episode that she can clear the entire sky of clouds in ten seconds flat. So what does she do for the rest of her time? Absolutely nothing, that's what. Rainbow Dash is definitely lazy.

Hey, thanks for digging up this old thread of mine! I'll just point out that this was written when Season 2 was just beginning, so I didn't have access to episodes like Secret of My Excess, Just for Sidekicks, or Simple Ways.

That said, you're right about Rarity pairing well with Envy, and I hadn't even noticed it before. Dash as Sloth makes a lot of sense. Spike as Greed almost feels too easy, with the whole dragon thing, and he doesn't seem very greedy personally.